The Twelve Days of TyHil
by Distant Storm
Summary: Twelve parts, each with a holiday theme. Put them together, what do you get? The twelve days of TyHil, of course. Part eight in which Kai and Tyson have a talk and team up in an unusual way is up.
1. Part One: Black Friday

Disclaimer: I do not own beyblade.

Notes: I wanted to get this up in time for the day. (Hey look I'm early. Shocking.)

Summary: Twelve parts, each with a holiday theme. Put them together, what do you get? The twelve days of TyHil, of course.

xxxxxxxxxx Black Friday xxxxxxxxxx

Tyson rolled over, presumably for the first time. His dreams were turkey dinner induced and rather pleasant. Hilary had even made him an extra turkey, all his own, for Thanksgiving dinner the night before. Afterward, Kai had trained them into the ground, but even he eventually had to succumb to the overwhelming amount of turkey dinner he had consumed. The gang laughed as Kai blamed his lethargic behavior on some chemical in turkey none of them understood.

Meanwhile, Kai had just awoke. Rubbing the sleep from his pale amythyst eyes, he glanced around the room. As per usual, he performed a head count, only to come up one head short. Immediately, he drew out his cell phone, turning it on silently. It was just before four am. Hilary was an early riser, but this was rediculous. Although, he did realize that promptly after eating her dinner and desert the night before, she went to bed rather early.

He walked silently, padding past his male team mates. They slept on, hardly aware of the captain's movement. The Russian walked out to the kitchen where Hilary sat, idly tracing the rim on a cup of coffee. When she saw him, no surprise crossed her features. She immediately got up, sashayed to the coffee pot, and provided him with a cup of black brew.

"Hn."

She looked up at him, causing him to do a double take. On her face was a trace amount of pink eye-shadow, amongst black eyeliner and mascara. Where was she going?

"Is Tyson awake?"

Kai made no response, which answered the brunette's question. She promptly walked to the kitchen sink, pulled a bucket out of the cupboard beneath it, and proceeded to fill it with ice cold water. She pushed back a few loose strands of her chestnut hair, smirked at the still confused captain, and walked into the room where all of them slept.

She tip-toed carefully, avoiding the others that did not need to be woken up at this early hour. The ice water would be used as a last resort, though it provided for quite a threat.

Tyson snored lightly, sleeping with the covers of his sleeping bag pulled up to his chin. Her girly senses regarded him as adorable, but she knew that all good things came to an end. After all, it was the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday. The biggest shopping day of the year and one of Hilary's all-time favorite days.

"Tys," she purred gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. One of his immediately clasped hers, scaring the daylights out of her. His thumb stroked the back of her hand, consistant with the beat of his heart and breathing.

Snapping out of her daydream, Hilary used her other hand to get a few drops of water on her fingertips.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

_Drip?_

"Ahh!" Tyson yelled, shooting straight up from his sleeping bag, desperately wiping the drops of water off the bridge of his nose. Either the roof was leaking, or someone was trying to wake him up. He detested either one.

Groaning followed from the boys on the floor near him. Hilary smirked and gave him a hard stare.

"Uh, Tyson?"

The champion, acustomed to seeing Hilary waking him up every morning, answered groggily. "What?"

She smirked and held up her limp hand, which he was still clasping. "I want to use my hand today, and it would help if you didn't have it in a strangle hold."

Suddenly awake, nervous laughter erupted from the back of his throat. He released her hand, causing her to smile. He looked at her, bewildered. "What are you doing?" He grabbed his cell phone, checking the time. "It's too early!" He yelled, throwing himself back into the sleeping bag.

"Keep it down, would ya?" Daichi yelled angrily. Grunts of approval followed from all sides.

A moment of silence passed. Tyson was desperately trying to get back to sleep, when --

"Ooph." More silence. Then, "Hil, did you have to go and sit on me?"

"Get up or I'll start bouncing on you."

"Do you have to sit on me?" He repeated, in a whisper.

She shruged and bounced once on his stomach, just for kicks. All the air in his stomach left him weezing for air. "C'mon, Tyson, you promised. I made dinner, you go shopping."

"I'm exhausted," he huffed, coughing from the lack of air.

"The sooner we go, the sooner we get back," She said teasingly.

Tyson groaned, though much quieter this time. "You're lying to me."

She laughed quietly. "Of course, but I'll buy breakfast _and_ lunch. Maybe even dinner too. We could go to that All-You-Can-Eat Buffet..."

The blunette's stomach rumbled on cue. "Stupid food... I hate you Hil. I absolutely hate you."

She pouted and got off him. "Love you too," she said sarcastically. "Now get your ass out of bed before I dump this water on you."

"Aww, c'mon. The bucket too?"

She giggled. "Of course. Do you really think that I trust you? You're no better than you were when you were in eigth grade."

"The feeling's mutual." Silence followed once more. Then a splash. "Hilary!"

xxxxxxxxxx

Tyson groaned. It was already well past noon, and they had been shopping since five-thirty that morning. "Hil, I thought shopping was supposed to be fun!"

The brunette turned and gave him a smile, before her attention returned to one of the Christmas displays. There were countless other people pushing and shoving past the blunette champion, trying to reach the same place.

A moment later, Hilary emerged from the group of shoving shoppers. "Shopping is fun Tyson. You've just got to get into that holiday spirit."

"Huh. I don't see how beating up little old ladies for that scarf is worth much."

"It's for my Aunt, Tyson. I'm not shopping for me."

"Still! It's not even December."

"It will be soon," The ruby-eyed girl countered. "Now c'mon, there's another store I want to go to. We have to find a checkout first."

He groaned. "Hil, can't we go get food? I'm starving!"

Hilary reached out and grabbed Tyson's arm, pulling him in her direction. She swiftly navigated through multiple crowds of shoppers. When she looked back at him, she smiled gently. "After this, okay?"

The champion sulked. Why did he have to be a sucker for her smile? This one looked nice and sweet and harmless, but Hilary could be known to go back on these sorts of things. When they stopped walking and ended up at the back of a very long line, he set down one of the bags and readjusted his cap.

"How do girls tolerate all this shopping?" The champ sighed. "I'm bushed and it isn't even lunchtime."

She shrugged, picking up the bag he dropped. Tyson reached for it; it was the heaviest one. She lifted it like it was full of feathers. "I've had to do this for my mom. Shopping builds plenty of muscles. How else do you think I'd make it through one of Kai's 'extra-special' training sessions?"

Tyson smirked. That was definitely something he hadn't taken into consideration. Hilary did wield those shopping bags rather skillfully, and he could easily attest to the fact that they were anything but light. Durring the next few minutes he watched her wait patiently in line. The patient part was where he hit a snag.

"Hey, Hil?"

"What's up?"

"How do you wait patiently. You're never patient."

She hit him over the head with the bag in her hand. _Ouch_. "Oi! What was that for?"

Beaming, she acted like it had never happened. "Hmm, Tyson, what do you think we should get Kai for Christmas?"

The champion nursed his large-sized bump. That woman was evil._ Pure evil._

xxxxxxxxxx

Hilary sat back, watching as her companion on this shopping trip literally stuffed it in. She sighed and leaned back, used to his behavior. The rest of the world disregarded his actions because he was a world champion. If she, however, were to eat more than one french fry at a time with her hands, a picture of her, taking a bite, would be found all over the tabeloids with a headline of 'Anorexic Hilary Tachibana Attempts to Mask Eating Problem.'

She laughed. If you ate next to Tyson, it automatically looked like you_ did_ have an eating problem.

"Hey Hil, why're you laughing?"

She looked up to see the champion glancing at her confusedly. She shrugged. "You're a piece of work," She said finally, not knowing how else to sum up her thoughts. He nodded happily, glad to know nothing had changed and continued hogging all of the food.

Hilary haphazzardly went through some of the bags to her left. She had bought gifts for Max, Ray, Daichi, and Kenny. Her relatives were already covered, and her mama's gift had been taken care of. Kai's gift, she realized had also been covered. That left one person and one other thing she needed to take care of.

"Tys," She began almost quietly, "What do you want for Christmas?"

The champion looked up at her, surprise coveting his features. He pointed to himself. "Me?"

She nodded. "Well I've got gifts for everyone else, and I just need a dress for the gala_(1)_."

He placed a finger to his nose. "Chocolate," he began, and then thought some more. "Maybe a new launcher or something, but I don't know what else I could want. I'm sure I'll like it ,whatever it is."

"Wanna go looking after lunch?"

The champ sighed. "Before or after you get this dress?"

She smiled. "After." He groaned, but she explained the method to his madness. "Hey, we're making good time, and if we go looking for the dress, it's more peace and quiet for you."

"Peace 'n quiet?"

"I'm not going just anywhere for my dress, Tyson. I'm going to a boutique."

"Bow-tiki?"

She rolled her eyes. "Wipe the mustard off your face, Tyson."

xxxxxxxxxx

Hilary allowed the poking and prodding only a few times each year. Obviously when she had to go to any formal occasion required by her family, school dances that were manditory by her female friends' standards, and the upcoming event, though it was not required. Not even her teammates went, save the blunette who critiqued each outfit in his own 'special' way.

"Well?" The girl turned around once, allowing the teen to see all parts of the creme colored dress. It was long, but not to the floor. Honestly, Hilary did not like it, but the dress's color made her look tanner. She merely showd him to keep him semi-interested.

The boy snorted. "You look kinda like those rolls that Ray makes. If you want to look like that then you're perfect!" He smiled his most charming, little kiddish smile.

Hilary smiled back. "Those rolls are round, Tyson. What are you trying to say?"

"That you have a nice as- ask one of those sales people. Isn't that their job?" The champion sighed in relief when she shook her head confusedly and walked away. "That one was too close, he realized in defeat. He couldn't be caught dead giving her a compliment, much less one that could easily be turned against him.

He watched her walk off and smirked as she inquired with one of the associates. The woman watched her walk off and blushed. Then, the woman walked out to where he sat, stretched across one of the plush white couches.

"Your girlfriend must not have realized what you meant," she said slyly.

Tyson blushed, "She's not exactly my girlfriend," he said sheepishly, poking his index fingers together. "We're best friends," he continued, clearing his throat for emphasis.

The associate nodded knowingly. "Well then, I wish you luck with her, though I wonder who's going to buy the dress?" She turned and walked away, winking his direction.

He reached up, removed his hat and ran a hand through his hair, gulping. _Do I really feel that way about Hilary? She can really be annoying sometimes._ He wondered some more before his thoughts were interrupted by the clicking of heels against the marble floor of the boutique.

"What do you think?" She asked, a soft pink tint on her cheeks. The associate that had just spoken with him looked almost antsy, trying to see what he thought. Tyson figured that the woman must have said something to Hilary, or else she really, really loved that dress. "You're the one who has to see me in it," she continued.

The champion revisited the traditional custom. Unless one of them -- meaning Tyson, to whom the event mostly applied -- had a significant other, the two of them would go to the gala together. He looked down, finally noticing the floor-length dress that adorned her body.

Apparently she had curves too, he noticed, since he had never seen them at last year's events. This was the only time he really saw Hilary dress up, and it was a treat. Last year he had been so flustered when he saw the teenaged girl he nearly forgot to put on shoes before they left. He was used to her wearing skirts, but in those dresses, he realized that she wasn't just one of the guys. She could actually be -- gulp -- a _girl_.

"Tyson?" Hilary called, quietly. The champion shook his head and looked at the dress. It was ivory in color, floor length, and had a low-cut v-neck. Tyson watched it's almost aquatic flow down her body, mesmerized. Between the waves of the skirt portion, navy-colored mesh from a layer below the ivory colored silk illuminated the skirt, attracting much-needed attention to the newly gained fullness of her hips.

The girl blushed a bit harder. "Tyson, you're staring."

The champion blinked a few times before looking up at her again. "You want it?" He asked.

She looked confused. "Yeah, why?"

"Nothing, nothing," he said immediately. "Did you get all those accesories you wanted?"

She nodded. The matching shoes, clutch, and hair pieces were all included with the dress. "Yeah. If you're cool with this one, I'll get changed and we'll go."

"Okay," he said, and she quickly exited the main room, to go in back and get changed. The associate who spoke to him before smiled as he pulled out his credit card.

"Credit or debit?" She asked, as he handed it to her.

A few clicks and some chatter from the register later, he was handed a receit. The dress, complete with accessories had come to just under ten thousand dollars American. He was used to thinking in that currency anyway, but he would never tell her how much he spent.

"So this is it?" Another associate asked, tucking back a strand of brunette hair.

The first woman shook her head. "It's taken care of, Mei," She said simply, giving Tyson a sweet gaze. Taking the dress from the younger associate, the woman handed it to Hilary. "Have a nice day, you two."

"Thanks," Tyson chimed, ushering Hilary out of the boutique before she could ask any questions. Behind him, he swore he heard the two associates laughing.

Hilary skidded to a stop the second they were a few feet away from the boutique. "What was that all about?" She demanded, hands on her hips?"

Laughing nervously, Tyson said nothing. Hilary grabbed him by the collar.

"Well? I know they don't just give those dresses away, so you better start speaking now, you dolt!"

The champion seethed. "Well I'm sorry, I figured since you're going with me out of the goodness of your heart, I'd buy your dress. Is that okay with you, Miss Wicked Witch of Whatever Grade We're In?!"

For a second, just for a second, he thought she might have dropped that dress. Her eyes were about as wide as saucers and her jaw hung. "You bought it?"

He shrugged. "Who else would have?"

Almost immediately, he noticed that her arms were around his neck, pulling him into a tight hug. Awkwardly, he hugged her back, moreso holding her than the squeezing she was doing. As soon as it had began, though, she released him, but not before kissing him on the cheek. "That was really sweet of you, Tyson."

When she continued walking, waiting purposely for him to stay beside her, he realized something. For all the times they had fought, that almost made everything worth it.

Almost.

xxxxxxxxxx

Walking through the crowded corridors of Bakuten's only shopping mall, Tyson made sure to securely hold onto Hilary's hand. Even the brunette had no complaints, as she knew he would easily become lost, being the dolt that he was. Occasionally, the passers by would give them strange looks, looks he would easily deflect with a cool glance. People had been expecting him to hold Hilary's hand at some point, but he was sure that the tabeloids would be hosting a picture of it within the next few days.

"What are we looking for, anyways?"

She shrugged. "You still need a Christmas gift, duh!"

"You're going to let me pick it out?"

She looked at him like he had nothing but rocks in his head. "No, silly, I'm going to let you show me what you want. I'm not going to buy it in front of you, that would ruin the surprise."

His mouth held a distinct 'O' shape, but he continued to allow him to pull her though the groups of people. "So," he began casually, "How about this store?"

She smiled and nodded. "Okay!"

Surprisingly, she was nothing but attentive as she listened to him ramble on about what he'd like for Christmas. He pointed out parts that he would like, different launchers, beyblades, and even a rip cord or two. She nodded once and a while, before he sighed, saying that he was done looking.

"Hey, why don't you go look at something else for a little bit," she said, after a moment's thought. "I know exactly what I'm going to get you."

He nodded, realizing that he could probably get her gift out of the way. "Okay. Maybe I'll go find something for you," he relayed, causing her to blush lightly.

"You don't have to get me anything, Tyson. That dress was more than enough."

He shrugged. "I'm just a nice guy."

"You spent like ten thousand dollars on me!"

He shrugged again. "And you still tolerate my stupidity and bad eating habits. I figure you might be worth it."

She stared at him as he walked off. A moment later she shook her head and walked to the register.

"Miss, would you like to order something for your boyfriend?"

She sighed. Here we go again, she thought, more people assuming Tyson is my boyfriend. It was nothing new, though it got old after a while. Especially when part of her wanted it to happen. "Yeah. I want a custom-made launcher. Think you can hook me up?"

The man nodded. "Just give me the general outline."

xxxxxxxxxx

Oh man, Tyson thought, I'm sunk. He had been wandering around one of those jewelry stores for about half an hour now, and Hilary would probably come for him soon. He knew that she liked jewelry, especially fancy stuff. Then again, all girls liked jewelry and Hilary was not just 'any girl.' Of course that sounded rather corny and she could _never_, under any circumstances be made aware of that fact.

"Sir, can I help you?"

Tyson nodded eagerly. "I want to buy something for my friend."

"Do you know what kind of piece you'd like to go with?" The young woman that stood on the other side of the jewelry cases smiled gently, obviously no virgin to the many young men who had no idea whatsoever about a woman's tastes.

"I think a necklace," He said sheepishly.

She nodded and pulled out a booklet from beneath the counter. "Why don't you look through it and point out some of the things you might think she'd like."

The champion took the book and sat down on one of the provided stools before the counter. Occasionally, his eyes would light up at the things he saw that she might like, but eventually, only one made the cut.

The jeweler smiled. "You have good taste," she said sweetly. "Journey Diamond," She explained, picking one up from a nearby display case. It had a series of six circular shaped diamands in a slithery shape that dangled delicately from the silver chain. "That's one of the most popular styles this season. She'll love it for sure. What kind of stone would you like? You can go the cubic zerconia, Swarzoski crystal, or real diamond route."

Tyson smirked. Nothing less than the best was satisfactory. He'd stolen that line from Kai. "Real diamonds, for sure."

"That'll put you up a few thousand dollars, sir."

"I've got the money," he said simply.

She nodded. "Alright, what kind of diamond would you like?"

Thinking, the champion tried to decide what would best fit her. Then he realized the simplest factor he could. Girls liked pink, didn't they? He smirked and agreed with himself, knowing that it would be the right decision. "Do you have anything in pink?"

xxxxxxxxxx

Just as she left the beyblading store, she caught sight of Tyson, heading straight for her. "Good timing."

He nodded and gave her a sly look. "What, no bag?"

She nudged him. "I don't see you with a bag either!"

Shrugging, he sighed. "I had to order your gift."

"What do you know? Me too." She beamed and looked down at her watch. "Wanna go back to the car? I think I'm just about done here."

Faking some choking noises, Tyson caught a sarcastic look gracing her features. "You, a girl, are done shopping? Don't give me that, I know you could keep going for hours."

She never denied it. "Yeah, well I thought maybe we could go hit the buffet. You ate most of my lunch when you inhaled yours, remember?"

Tyson pumped his fist up in the air. "Sweet! Buffet, here we come!"

Hilary rolled her eyes, but allowed him to grab her wrist and pull her toward the exit. What she did not know, was that there was a small box in his vest as well.

xxxxxxxxxx

Notes: Okay, now that that's over with, hopefully it wasn't too pointless. This fic is kind-of a multi chaptered fic, but you could probably view each part as it's own little one-shot. I thought it would be cute to put this up today since tomorrow is Black Friday for us Americans, meaning the biggest shopping day of the year. I know little about Japanese culture and traditions, but Hilary always seemed rather American-ish to me. This was also rather long, I had never intended it to extend beyond five pages, but apparently it's ten(- more for you, I suppose).

_(1) _This will come into effect in a later part. Each year, Stanley Dickenson holds a Winter/Christmas Gala. Since it isn't manditory for anyone other than the World Champion, Tyson goes. Hilary comes with him as an escort, since it is a rather traditional red carpet affair.

Next Time: Hilary comes over to the Dojo to help with the Christmas decorations. Chaos ensues, especially when Tyson supposedly 'in charge.' (More humor is to be expected.)

Thanks for reading and please review!

Distant Storm (Happy Turkey-Day!)


	2. Part Two: Holiday Decorations

Disclaimer: I don't own beyblade.

Notes: I don't think this will be as long as the last part. Probably only about five pages or so.

xxxxxxxxxxHoliday Decorationsxxxxxxxxxx

Tyson rushed to the door as fast as possible, allowing the frigid figure of Hilary Tachibana to come into the warmth. He shoved the door shut behind her, allowing her to strip off the jacket that had provided her only sense of warmth on the walk over.

"I would have picked you up," He said, helping her take off a glove from one of her numb hands.

"Yeah, and you can barely drive when it's sunny outside. I'd rather take my chances with the cold." She kicked off her boots and slid open the inner shoji. "Let's get this started."

He did a double take. "We turned on the fireplace, you could go warm up for a few minutes."

"Nah, I'll be fine." She flashed him a smile. "If they put you in charge of Christmas decorations, you'll need all the help you can get. Besides, I'll get warmed up by moving around." She brushed past him and into the kitchen, leaving a disgrutled champion in her wake.

He sighed. "You're insane." Laughing, he opened the door to the darkened basement, flipping a switch on with the back of his hand. "C'mon, let's go get the boxes, if you're so gun-ho to get started."

She nodded and followed him downstairs, sneezing over the dust. "Jeez, do you guys ever clean down here?"

"Not really. We only come down here to get the decorations and put 'em away."

Continuing into the dark, dust-filled abyss, Hilary noticed something moving. "Uhh, Tyson...?"

He glanced back over his shoulder. "What?"

"If that thing is eight-legged, you better kill it right now before I scream." Moving a bit out of the way, Hilary completely illuminated the biggest spider Tyson had ever seen in his basement. The champ moved toward it, completely entranced in his boyish ways. "Tyson, come on, kill it, would ya?"

"No way, I wanna keep it as a pet. Who am I to kill an innocent lifeform?"

"I'll kill another innocent lifeform if you don't kill it right now." She looked at him, only to realize that his pea-sized attention span was elsewhere.

"I think I'll call him Herman."

A vein threatened to bulge from the brunette's forehead. "TY-SON! Kill that damned spider right now!"

The champion allowed it to crawl on his hand. "Hil, don't you wanna see-"

"Get. It. Away. From. Me. Right _Now._" The last word dripped with such intent that the spider seemed to shrivel up and die right there.

"Aww great," Tyson said sadly, dropping the arachnid on the floor, "You killed him."

The girl glanced over at it, noting that it indeed looked dead. Immediately, she picked up a plastic crate labeled _paint_ and dropped it upon the carcass. Upon the look received from the champion, she said sheepishly, "I don't want it to come back to life and try and kill me. They do that sometimes."

"You're such a wimp."

"I'll call Kai and tell him to get his butt over here to start training you..." For kicks, the brunette pulled out her cell phone to intensify the threat.

"Oh shut up, you've made your point." Pausing, he turned toward the plastic crate and bowed slightly, pretending to cry. "But you still killed one of my best friends. Poor Herman," he sniffed, "I really thought we had a bond."

"And I really thought I'd help you carry these boxes upstairs," Hilary snorted. "Apparently you'll be doing it on your own now, spider-boy."

xxxxxxxxxx

Twently minutes later, Tyson hefted the last box up the flight of stairs, huffing lightly. "You know," he said, regaining his breath, "It would have been much faster had you helped me."

She shrugged. "Well you did yourself in." Sighing, she grabbed the pad that sat on the table. Upon the top sheet was a list written in Tyson's slanted handwritting. "I take it you've gotten the tree?"

The champion nodded. "We only need to do the lights and decorate the inside." He walked over to one of the boxes, the only one overflowing with lights of all colors and assortments. "Do we want to work outside on the lights or inside on the decorations?"

Hilary glanced through the window. "There's a lull in the snowing. It's not as bad as before. Let's do the lights now."

Together, they hustled outside, trying desperately not to freeze themselves. Hilary carried the box of lights, using her back to hold open the shed's door as Tyson grabbed a ladder. Seeing as Tyson's attention span lacked in length, Hilary offered to hold the ladder as the champion strung lights. Her rationale was that if he was not paying attention and she fell, the amount of snow would not buffer the fall enough to save her sorry butt. Tyson had asked why he was the one who could possibly die, only to receive a snowball to the face.

"Like this?"

Hilary nodded, watching him string lights, rather skillfully, if she did say so herself. "Do you think we'll need to plug another string into that strip?"

"Nah," he yelled down, finishing up on the front part of the roof. "I think we're good with this half. I'll come down and we'll get the back part of the dojo. "Cool?"

She nodded and moved back to the ladder, holding it steadily in place. "What the hell are you doing, Tyson?"

The accused blunette sat up from where he lay on the roof, sucessfully making a snow angel in the lightly falling snow. "What? Can't a guy have a little fun?"

"Psychopath," she muttered, rolling her eyes. A smile pulled at the corner of her lips in opposition, though, and she felt the desire to laugh. "Would you come down here? We'll play in the snow when we don't have to put up decorations, mkay?"

A moment later, he slid down the ladder, lubricating its rungs with melted snow. "There. Happy now?" She smirked at him and then cracked a smile. He looked at her, cocking his head. "What?" He asked, noting her smile?

Shrugging, she walked past him, carrying the box of light. "Don't change Tyson," She said finally, chalking the rosiness of her cheeks up to the cold winter air.

"Who ever said I was gonna?" He inquired, a childish smile -- his most charming one -- turned upon her.

Shaking her head, she continued on toward the opposite side of the dojo. "I don't think you could if you tried."

xxxxxxxxxx

An hour and two small electrocutions later(Tyson's hair was currently sticking out in more directions than should ever exist), the duo returned to the warmth of the dojo. Hilary immediately poured herself a cup of coffee to warm up, however she told Tyson he was 'wired' enough from all the electricity.

"If we have to do lights in here," he said, rather frazzled, "You can do 'em."

She laughed. "Alright." A soft giggle later, she added, "You know, it was just the part where you had to plug 'em in that you had trouble."

Together, they began to pull out the many ornaments, garlands, wreaths, and, to Tyson's personal cringing, lights to be hung up throughout the dojo's living quarters.

"I call the tinsel stuff!" Tyson yelled, taking out a long strip of silver colored tinsel attached at the center by a braid of tightly wrapped, slightly thicker tinsel.

The brunette rolled her eyes and allowed him to work. They continued on in peaceful quiet, using the entertainment center's radio to blare holiday music. She hung the lights on the tree, plugging them in to ensure that the champion working on hanging up wreaths was not privy to his previous electrofying experiences once more.

When they were almost done, Hilary went into the kitchen and took out the one object she knew that Tyson's grandfather hid, and for good reason. Then, she went to the hall closet on the way to their bedrooms and grabbed a small step-ladder, pulling it over to the doorway between the white tiled kitchen and the plush beige carpeting of the living room.

"Hilary, what in the world are you doing?" The champion asked.

The young woman in question made no motion to answer him, thus making him take a few steps toward her to see what she was doing. When Hilary looked up, he was nearly below her, looking up curiously.

"Ahh!" She yelled, nearly falling off the ladder. "Tyson, get away!" She threw a small cardboard box at him, which he easily evaded.

"God, what was that for?!" The champion exclaimed, his hands on his hips as if to ask her what mental problem she was currently suffering from.

Hilary gave him a look he could only describe as a 'hairy eyeball.' Following such a signature move, Hilary deadpanned, surprised even his tiny brain had trouble figuring it out. "Jeez, Tyson, it's Mistletoe," she explained, finishing the final steps of hanging up the small plant.

Without thinking twice, the champion walked up beside the ladder, making him technically _beneath_ the mistletoe. Hilary looked up nervously and gulped. "Tyson..."

"Wow," The champion babbled. "So _that's_ what it really looks like!"

She wordlessly slipped down the ladder as he had so skillfully done before, and passed by him, planting a small kiss upon his cheek. The blunette gawked at her as she passed, a light blush forming on his face to match her rosy cheeks. "What was that for?!" He repeated, more dumbstruck than angry about such an action.

Her back was to him, and her eyes gazed out the window and watched the snow that travelled upon the wind. "You were the one who walked under the mistletoe," She said simply, and turned. "I'm not one to meddle with tradition," The brunette explained.

Apparently, he realized what had just happened, and a horrified look passed over his face. "Eww!" He yelled, mockingly. "I've got Hilary germs on my face! Somebody call a doctor! I need help."

"For what?" She inquired. "I'm perfectly healthy," She added. "Your head might need examining, but otherwise, you seem good."

"Cooties!" Tyson squealed, as if he were in the fifth grade again.

Hilary shook her head. "Because I have cooties?" She asked, moreso as a rhetorical question than to the champion who wordlessly placed the step-ladder back in the hall closet.

A moment later, he poked his head back in the room, another of his all-too charming smiles upon his face. "Nah, not cooties," He said, almost as an afterthought. "If you had cooties, I'm sure I woulda had 'em a long time ago, I mean, I spend enough time with you," He walked back toward her, glancing upward for any more hiding mistletoe. "Don't worry Hil, it wasn't all that bad..."

She deadpanned, but the smile remained in her eyes as she pretended to be angry. "Are you kidding? I had to kiss you, of all people!"

"No one ever said you had to!" The champion yelled at her.

"It's tradition, you follow it!" She screamed back.

"Screw tradition!" He yelled.

"Maybe I don't wanna!"

"You should!" He retorted back.

"Should not!"

"Should too!"

As the duo continued to argue, each privately admitted that they just might have enjoyed the show of affection, even if it was only on the cheek.

xxxxxxxxxx

**Okay, I'm done! Hope you liked, and sorry about the wait, I hope to get the next chapter up in less than a week. After all, there's not too many before christmas!**

**NEXT TIME: Hilary gets roped into a visit with her booring relatives. Can our blunette hero save her from a dreadful holiday encounter? (Excerpt: "Don't worry, Hil, I'll catch you! Promise!") One can only expect the worst...**

**Please Review!**

**Distant Storm xoxo**


	3. Part Three: Visitors

Disclaimer: I don't own beyblade. Woo.

xxxxxxxxxxVisitorsxxxxxxxxxx

Hilary stared at her hands, then the carpet, then the wall, then out the window. She noticed that the gentle snow from that morning had stopped, and the darkening skies were a color commonly associated with Kai's eyes. It held an almost purple color from the misty combination of clouds and fading daylight.

It was not by choice that Hilary Tachibana was in this current situation. No, she would have preferred to spend her afternoon with Tyson at the B.B.A. Training Center downtown, but her mother had other ideas. "Now Hilary," she had said, "You're not thirteen anymore. I think you're old enough to entertain company, don't you?"

This argument had quickly elevated after that, causing an interesting sentiment from her mother, whom she rarely fought with. The usually reserved woman had yelled at Hilary about spending so much time with Tyson and his other friends. This statement immediately led into a series of comments about her ditching all her female friends -- who were now only interested in her for her bond with her male friends -- for said male friends.

The brunette had been hurt by this, and for this reason, her ruby orbs shone with a saddened glaze today. Tyson had been called the night before, though he had understood the reasons she had for not being able to come to the training center with him. She appreciated his acceptance of this fact, though she did not so much enjoy it herself.

"...right, Hilary?"

She looked up at her Aunt Beatriz's beady eyes, almost mistaking them in their scrutiny of her being for those of Gideon. "Uhh..."

From her left, Hilary's mother shook her head, obviously upset. "Hilary," She scolded, "pay attention when you're being spoken to!"

Hilary nodded and looked back at her aunt, whose smile did not waver from its fakeness. Beside her sat Hilary's only cousin, a beautiful, popular, social butterfly named Trisha who repeated her statement tartly. "I asked if you had any lady friends. All you speak about are these scruffy beybladers," The blonde teen said, taking a sip of her tea. "I mean, look at them."

Ruby eyes flamed with rage. "And if it wasn't for those scruffy beybladers," she spat back, "I would have been dead ten times over!" The brunette stood up and excused herself wordlessly, walking back to the kitchen to begin scrubbing the dishes from their early dinner.

When she was alone in the room, with nothing but hot soapy waters and a mess of dishes, she pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and flipped it open angrily. A moment later, she looked down at her text message, felt satisfied with her wording, and sent it to the only person who could get her out of this current mess before they went back into the dining room and dirtied all the dishes she would work so hard to clean.

A few moments later, her mother walked into the kitchen, giving her a rather testy glare as she gathered up the clean dishes Hilary had just washed and placed them back on the table, shouting cheerfully into the living room, "We'll all be having pie in just a minute!"

"Just kill me now," Hilary said ever so sweetly to her mother, who smiled sympathetically at her.

The woman spoke evenly. "We're not used to a woman who is so tomboyish," She explained. "You have your ways, and ours are nothing like them. You have to excuse us if we don't understand."

Hilary nodded understandingly, though her frustration had mounted. "Yeah, well it doesn't mean they should provoke me about them," She murmured.

Her mother, being a lawyer and a skilled diplomat, nodded patiently. "Take your time and calm down. They're only going to be in town today. It won't kill you to spend a few more hours with them."

When her mother left, Hilary responded.

"Hey, you never know, it just might."

xxxxxxxxxx

Tyson walked briskly down the road, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets. Today's weather had seemed nice enough when he had left, but now, it felt downright cold. Part of him wished he had the car, but the other part wished that the wind would stop until he reached his house.

The small beep from the front left pocket of his jeans alerted him of a text message. Curious, he pulled out the phone and flipped it open, expecting to see some goofy forward from Daichi or Max, or a surprise training session update from his brother or Kai. To his surprise, Hilary's name flickered across the top of the illuminated screen. Judging by the time, he had missed this message while practicing, since it had been sent nearly three hours ago.

He opened the message quickly, knowing that she was busy for the day, so her communication with him should not be happing. The message was quick and to the point.

_SOS. Get me outta here. Ily 4e if u do._

Smirking, he turned the next corner and continued on. Operation Rescue Hilary was a go.

He just had to figure out what the plan was.

xxxxxxxxxx

Hilary left the safety of the kitchen, knowing that her mother would find a way to be angry with her for ignoring her family. After all, she was almost an adult, and she would have to entertain the family. Personally, she wished that Mr Dickenson had a tourament scheduled around this time every year, in a location very, _very_ far away, but she had no such luck. The aforementioned chairman preferred that the beybladers he supported spent time with their families during the holidays.

He just did not understand how horrible hers happened to be.

"There you are," Aunt Beatriz said knowingly. "Come to have a piece of pie?"

The brunette shook her head. "No thank you, I'm not hungry."

"C'mon, Hil," Her cousin Trisha prodded, slicing up a good sized slice of apple pie, "We made it ourselves from the best apples in the United States!"

She shook her head once more. "No thank you, Trisha," She repeated, her voice taking on an angry edge. "I have practice tomorrow, and if I'm sluggish, I will never hear the end of it."

"You _practice_ with them?" Her uncle asked from down the way. While the ladies socialized in the living room after their dinner, the men went outside and chatted about 'manly' things. "I had no idea that they allowed non-beybladers to train with them."

Hilary shurgged. "Yeah," she responded, as if it were nothing, "They need me a lot more than they think. I build their beyblades."

"So why do you need to practice with them?" Her grandmother asked, not so much sceptical as she was curious. "I don't understand why you would practice with them if you don't beyblade."

"She devises training schedules, and basic work-outs," Her mother answered.

"They need to do other work-outs, like running, endurance, swimming, and weight lifting," The young tech relayed. "I do these work-outs with them, and then I work on their stats and improving their beyblades while they have beyblade training."

Trisha's eyes sparkled dreamily. "That Kai is soooo georgous. It's got to be awesome to work around him."

A nod was extended her direction. "Apparently he's not as 'scruffy as you think," Hilary added sarcastically. Ignoring it, she continued. "Kai's a really great beyblader and an awesome captain. He's always looking out for us, even when we don't think he is."

"Especially when he takes off his shirt," Trisha imagined the image thoroughly in her head. "That's gotta be part of why you hang around him. I mean, he talks to you, doesn't he?"

Hilary nodded again. "Yeah, because I'm not obsessed with him like you and every other girl in our age group is. He doesn't say a lot, especially when he feels pressured. He's got a pretty damaged psyche and I know damn well that fussing over him is not going to work unless you're only concerned about him, not about getting some."

"Hilary!" Her mother chastised. "Not at the dinner table!"

The teen shrugged and looked over at Trisha. "No offense, but you don't have a shot. I'm guessing that if he's gonna have a girlfriend, he probably already does and it's a big-ass secret. He doesn't share his private life with us, and unlike my friends, I only ask when it concerns us all."

"So he talks to you because you don't completely want to know every detail of his life? C'mon, you've got to be kidding me. He might talk to you, but he's never met me before."

"He's heard you talk on the phone to me," Hilary reminded her. Trisha blushed a bit. She was not the most... kind person you could have a conversation with on the phone, especially when she was speaking to her cousin. "Besides, didn't you say they were scruffy before?" Hilary batted her eyelashes with utmost snobish intentions.

Her mother rolled her eyes. "Hilary, would you go get the wine? I think that the adults could use a drink."

Hilary took the opportunity and nearly flew into the kitchen, all the while knowing that 'the adults' mean everyone but herself, who was not yet of age. Even her cousin was old enough to drink, which she thought sucked.

When she returned, her mother had pulled out the wine glasses, motioning for Hilary to pour everyone a drink. It was about three rounds later than her family members began to get buzzed, talking a bit louder than normal. She had cleared their pie plates and was re-washing the dishes while wondering where in the blue sky Tyson was, seeing as he should have responded to her text message already.

Their conversations, at some point, had turned on the subject of herself. Hilary swung open the door just a little, allowing her to hear the conversations a bit better.

Her aunt was the one who spoke first, nothing unexpected there. "You'd think that for all the time she spends with those boys that she is either seeing one of them privately, or she's turning into one of them."

"Hilary probably has a crush on Kai," Trisha responded, giggling from the sake. "I bet she's probably doing him and that's why he talks to her in public. He probably owes her that much."

"Now, now," Her grandfather said, weezing a bit from his cold, "Hilary may be a bit less feminine than you are, but I'm sure that she is not 'doing' anyone. She's probably in the midst of a childhood crush, you know, on a few of them. Once she figures it out," He coughed lightly, "I think she'll be fine."

Hilary thanked her lucky stars that despite the fact that her grandparents were not too fond of the fact that she the majority of her time with the opposite sex, they did defend her to her other relatives.

Her mother spoke next. "You know, Hilary does spend a great deal of time with that one boy... Ty-ko... Ty-lee... Ty-"

"Son!" Trisha boomed before exploding into a fit of giggles.

"Yes!" Her mother yelled back, "Tyson! She dragged him out shopping with her for the holidays, and they always go to some ball together around Christmas. If she's secretly seeing anyone, I wouldn't be surprised if she came to me tomorrow and told me that it was him."

Beatriz and Trisha both gawked at Hilary's mother in shock. "Tyson?! But he's the world champion and the best one of the bunch!" Trisha nearly fell off her chair.

"What are you so surpised about?!"

Hilary stood in the doorway, hands on her hips. The slightly-intoxicated members of her family stared at her, incredulous at the wild look in her ruby eyes.

"Hilary..." Her mother began.

"You guys think that it's so hard to believe?" She almost growled from the rage that consumed her. "Tyson is my best friend in the entire world. He's always been there for me and he's never been two-faced about anything."

"Your mother said that the two of you argue a lot."

Hilary shrugged. "So what? Neither of us can hold a grudge against each other. We bicker like an old married couple, and since my no good father jumped town on us -- " A few of her family member's jaws fell, "Her grandfather _and_ father have done their best to make sure that I have a positive male adult influence in my life. Not to mention that if anyone even thinks about me the wrong way, I have six teenagers who would completely destroy them. So stay out of my life, and we'll all be just fine."

Satisfied with her rant, Hilary proceeded to stomp upstairs and shut her bedroom door with the loudest slam anyone had ever heard.

Once this had happened, the members of the group looked at each other slyly. "She never denied it," Hilary's mother whispered rather loudly. "She's never not denied it before!"

"Is this a breakthrough?" The elder Tatibana's mother asked.

The mother nodded. "I hope so!"

xxxxxxxxxx

She had screamed into her pillow between sobs for about forty-five minutes when she heard something harder than the gently falling snow upon her window. Listening intently, she waited another five minutes while trying to brush away her tears. She hadn't cried like that in a while, and the tears just wanted to be released.

The scat-tap-crush sound repeated and Hilary moved toward her window. It was dark now, and she looked out cautiously, using the light of the dining room below that spilt onto the white snow of their side yard to see a baseball-capped figure standing in chest-deep snow.

Carefully, she opened the window, allowing herself a word. "Tyson?"

A cheeky smile and a light grunt affirmed it. "Who else?"

She beamed through her tears and looked at him frightfully. "Well, my family's downstairs. There's no way for me to get out without any of them seeing me."

Tyson looked bewildered for a moment, though slightly pained at the work his brain was doing. "I got it!" The champion squared up to her window, packed in some of the snow around his lower legs and reached up his arms.

"You do _not_ expect me to jump, Tyson!" She whispered severely. He did not look detered in the slightest, and the smile on his face did not waver. "Really? You really expect me to jump?"

"I practically waded through this stuff like I was swimming," The blunette said simply. "Don't worry, though! I'll catch you, promise!"

He reached up again and Hilary caught the look in his eye. "O-okay," She said, feeling tears again at the thought of what she was about to do. This was something she could see Tyson doing, not the other way around.

With a glance back at her already shut door, she took a deep breath that did nothing to calm her wildly beating heart. "Here goes," she said, and in one fluid motion, she took flight.

Through the open window, she bolted, trying to dive gracefully into the snow below, and into the arms of Tyson. Her initial thoughts were those of death, but immediately, she was met with chilly snow and an incredible warmth. The champion's arms enclosed around her as he was also catapulted into the chilly wet flakes.

Hilary was sprawled out directly upon her savior, his arms wrapped around her middle and her arms pressed onto his shoulders. Her head was directly next to his and they looked at each other for a few moments, just trying to let their actions sink into their heads. Hilary's hands dug into the snow, giving Tyson an angelic embrace. Tyson looked at her curiously.

"That was close," Hilary whispered breathlessly.

"Yeah really!" Tyson gasped. "I wasn't sure I was gonna catch ya there!"

A vein atop her head bulged. "Whad'ayya mean, _Wasn't sure you were gonna catch me_?!"

He laughed nervously as she stood up, extending a hand to help him up. "I did, didn't I?"

She smiled. "Yeah, you did," she agreed with a light laugh. "Pretty lucky, aren't we?"

He nodded and took her hand, before leading her through the path through which he came. They ducked as they passed the window where Hilary's family was, easily forgetting that she was in her room. Hopefully it would stay that way until tomorrow, when the night's snowfall could persuade her hung-over mother that she had not jumped out the window, or that Tyson had brought a very large trampoline before hand to catch her with, rather than his scrawny arms.

They found the side of the plowed street soon after and began the trek back to Tyson's home, where his grandfather had the water on for whatever warm drink they desired, as well as some nice warm blankets and Hilary's winter clothes that she used whenever she was at the dojo.

"Wow, you look like you were _not_ expecting me," Tyson said, giving her a once-over. "You've gotta be freezing!"

She looked down and blushed at her attire. She had worn her brand new shoes, shoes that her mother were firmly against her wearing in the house, and other than that, she was dressed in a sweater and dress pants. Obviously, she was going to get pneumonia in this weather.

A warm feeling overcame her after another moment of silent walking. Half a jacket was draped over her. It was Tyson's B.B.A. letterman's jacket, and it was covered in patches from multiple tournament. Hilary cuddled into it and the shoulder of the boy whose arm was in the other sleeve. "Thanks, Ty," She said softly.

He smiled down at her and drew his unsleeved arm around her waist. "We'll be warmer this way," he explained, and she easily had no complaints.

It was when they were nearly outside the Dojo's outter fence, about five minutes later that he noted the lines that snaked elegantly down her face like his mother's favorite black ink, only this was clear and glimmered in the pale street light.

She pulled out of the jacket as they were about to enter, but Tyson grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, looking into her eyes with nothing but the utmost concern in his own. His goofiness was put on hold for a moment as he looked at her.

"Why were you crying?" He asked, as softly as the snow that fell around them.

Hilary's breathing stopped for a second as Tyson's hand just about connected with her cheek, wiping off the traces of tears. She looked away, gently coaxing the new ones that rose over his concern to stay at bay.

"Hey," He whispered again, never once taking his eyes off of her. "You can tell me?"

She blinked and they fell against her wishes. Immediately, Tyson pulled her in for a hug, shushing her as his mother had when he cried as a tot. She trembled from the sobs as he rubbed her back soothingly.

"What's this all about?" He asked her again, once she had calmed down enough to form coherent sentences.

For someone who was far too silly and unserious, Tyson knew when to be serious and when to comfort friends. It was one of his best abilities, other than his beyblading.

With the aid of a breath, Hilary spoke softly. "My family just doesn't get it, Tys," She whispered into his ear. "They just don't understand."

He looked at her, bringing her head up so that he could see in your eyes. "I know they're all traditional and whatnot, but you're the smartest, nicest, prettiest person I know. What's there not to understand? You like to hang out with beybladers. Big deal."

She tried to smile, but couldn't. "They never have anything nice to say about it. It's like I'm not good enough, even when they try to see it my way." A few breaths and a cynical laugh later, she continued. "Though I guess they're right," She whispered, almost incoherently.

Tyson's eyes widened, and he looked at her worriedly before lifting her teary self up into his arms bridal style, holding her tightly to his warm chest. "Don't you _ever_ think that!" His eyes flickered in anger. "They were drunk, Hil, they don't know what the hell they were talking about!"

She sniffed and looked up at him. His eyes were a blazing chestnut color, boring into her ruby ones with such emotion. "Wha..?"

"You're the only person I know who could keep us all to our schedules. Even Kai can't do that. And you're the best friend a group of guys could have. The best friend I could ask for. Hil, you're amazing. Don't let what they say get to you!"

Her arms found their way around her neck, and they were in an akward position. He dropped her legs and hugged her tightly. "Thanks, Tyson," she said, sucking up the rest of her tears while rocking back and forth in his embrace.

"It's true, Hil," He whispered into her ear. "Don't you forget that."

He led her inside, shedding his coat to cover her now visibly shaking body through the rest of his equally snow-covered yard to bring her into the dojo. When his grandfather came into the room, he allowed the old man to embrace her, telling easily from the look on her face that she just wanted the acception she lacked from her family. If it was one thing he had learned from her stories, the young woman that the kendo master held in his arms was not readily accepted by her family for her being her own unique person.

xxxxxxxxx

"You spending the night?" Hiro asked, poking his head into the living room, where Hilary and Tyson were situated on the couch.

The scene before the elder Granger both awed and delighted him. His little brother's equally brown orbs looked up at him plainly, before returning to the girl whose head was tucked beneath his chin. A Christmas special was on the television, though neither seemed to notice. Hilary's eyes had shut long ago, and her soft, calm breathing signaled that she had fallen asleep, though both her hands were pulled in close to Tyson's chest, one clinging to the edge of his vest, while the other was tangled up with his hand, which she had led there of her own subconscious accord before falling asleep. Both of their lower halves were covered in the blanket Grandpa had bestowed upon them nearly two hours ago.

Hiro looked up at his brother's face again. "She staying here tonight?" In a softer voice, he added, "Gramps mentioned that she had a less than fun time with her relatives."

Tyson nodded slightly to agree with both. "She's gotta chill out. This time of year's always got her going insane, between practices and her family, I figure she's probably better off with m- us."

The older of the two smiled. "You," The man said with a smile. "It's okay to say that Tyson," he affirmed. "She obviously believes it too, or else she wouldn't let herself do this. Hilary's a strong-minded, strong-hearted girl. If she didn't feel safe with you, she wouldn't be alright with falling asleep on your chest, despite how she might treat you tomorrow at breakfast when you drink all of the juice and eat all the pancakes."

Tyson smirked and nodded again, before pulling the blanket up higher so that it covered Hilary's shoulders. He planned to stay like this for as long as possible, despite what the guys might say tomorrow. After all, they knew her situation, so they would at least take it easy on her. The blunette champion was easily used to being singled out by his team mates.

He'd take it all for her and then some.

Why?

Because he was her best friend.

Maybe more.

xxxxxxxxxx

**Notes: I liked how that turned out. It was a bit different than I had anticipated, and MUCH longer. I was thinking maybe five pages, not ten, but... It kinda grew on me. As for the other issues, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL MY PREVIOUS REVIEWERS AND READERS, I hope you continue what you're doing and I hope you liked this part, as I suppose you could call them chapters, though they could stand on their own...**

**As for the sneak preview thing: I try to do teasers of the next chapters of my fics for those who ask. Unfortunately, I know someone asked, and my computer is acting up so I can't check and see who it was, but I know I did not get a good chunk of the chapter to them in advance, so for that I apologize. I will try to get out a good little teaser of the next installment. SOOOOO...**

**That being said, I am done! I will try to have the next part up within the week, hopefully the next two parts. Maybe even tonight, but that might be a long shot.**

**Okee, I'll talk at you all later. PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Happy Holidays!**

Distant Storm xoxo


	4. Part Four: Caroling

Disclaimer: I don't own beyblade. Woot woot!

Notes: Sorry I've taken so long to update! I've been so busy with school and SAT's and all kinds of other crazy lame excuses I could probably insert here...

Side note: This was supposed to be the fifth part, but seeing as last chap was rather heavy, I thought I'd lighten the mood before getting into more kawaii-ness. After all, Tyson's humor brightens many lives. Ohh, and this one's gonna be a little shorter since it's a little lighter where plot is concerned.

xxxxxxxxxCarolingxxxxxxxxxx

The blunette grumbed as he shoved his toothbrush angrily into his mouth. A moment later, he spat, spraying the sink with the blue colored foam from the minty paste he used to scrub his trademark, perfectly straight and white teeth.

'Stupid caroling,' He thought as he spat again in distaste. It was not so much that he disliked the event, he would have enjoyed it, really. It was just the terms upon which he was caroling that he did not like.

You see, Tyson gets along well with adults that are not in charge of his academic life, meaning everyone save the teachers at the local high school in downtown Bakuten. The teachers expressed their concern in his life, stating that his lack of study habits and the refusal to do homework came from his beyblading attitude. Simply put, they believed that he should not be beyblading at all, since he barely tried and got average to slightly below average grades. They saw untapped potential in him. Tyson knew he was lazy, but c'mon. He's Tyson. The world champion. Like it really mattered if he got a C or a B- in his classes.

Then of course, there was said lazy student's friend Hilary. Every teacher loved her for her wittiness, her charm, and her sincere smile. She worked harder than most students did in their entire careers even though her grades were flawless whether she put effort into them or not. She would sometimes help him, and he would pull out an occasional high mark that put the teachers in a tizzy. It was then that she would become angry, defending him to the professionals that regarded her more as a friend than a student. They did not like the fact that the smartest female was friends with one of the laziest males in their entire class.

She always laughed them off, for behind their backs, she truly despised them. No one would so blatantly talk smack about her best friend without pissing her off. Her nature was just not that tame. She could keep it at bay for a while, but then she would explode, telling her teachers just where they could stick comments about her friends.

If he said anything like she would, he would have detention. On a _Saturday_.

She would never be pushed into something so horrible, for she was Hilary Tachibana, the otherwise perfect student.

He wrinsed his freshly cleaned mouth out with a bit of peppermint mouthwash, leaving his mouth tingling at the end. The sensation always made his shoulders scrinch up and his nose wriggle a little. The last time Hilary had seen him do such a thing, she smiled so genuinely, he swore that the white lights of the Christmas tree had replaced her teeth. She had a pretty smile, when she wasn't sold on the notion of killing him for whatever seemingly insignificant thing he had done to irk her on any given day.

"Yo, T-dawg!" Grandpa yelled from down the hall, messing around with some of his new hair gel in front of his bedroom mirror, "Home-girl is in the building!"

"Already?" Tyson spit out his mouthwash and wiped off his face with the towel lying beside the basin of the sink. "Coming, Hil!" He yelled, sprinting out of the room and toward the inner shoji that separated the dojo's entry and quarters from the kitchen.

The brunette was sitting at the island in their kitchen, glancing sideways out of the window. Tyson shook his head before sitting down beside her. She looked especially festive today, with the right side of her hair clipped back in a barette of green and red tinsel arranged like a sprig of holly.

She tilted her head back toward him, instead of the snow that she had been enraptured by moments ago. "It's a good evening to go caroling," she mentioned casually, before smiling at his displeased grimace. "Oh cut it out, Tys. We'll have fun, I promise!"

"You better keeep that bitch away from me then," He huffed, slouching from the adjacent stool. "Oh, and Ray said that he made rice-balls to take to your mother, maybe they'll brighten her mood from that 'flu'(1) she's come down with."

"She isn't gonna bug you. I hear that the new student teacher is coming caroling with us. She'll be so wrapped up in him that she won't have time to mess with you."

His eyes lit up at the thought of the teacher and the student teacher. "That would be some good blackmail."

"See, this is why teachers dislike you," She deadpanned, rolling her eyes. "While Ikono-sensei is a little bitchy, she is a decent teacher."

"Oh quit sucking up. It's not like you like her either."

Hilary smiled at him. "Yeah, you're right." She turned and looked at him again, drinking in the sight before her greedily. While his tan from the summer had faded, there was still an almost bronzy-gold tint to his chest and abdomen, which had once been hidden by baby fat. Now, she could easily see the six-pack he harbored (though it was more like eight, she mused) even when he was not purposely sucking in. God, he had gotten hot.

"You're staring," Tyson said, recapturing her gaze so that her eyes linked. "Is there something you like or what?"

She blinked and a light blush coveted her face. "Sorry," She murmurred sincerely. "It's not often that you walk around without a shirt on, that's all." He looked down and blushed a little too.

"Uhh... yeah, you surprised me by being so early." He stood up and headed down the hallway. "What shirt should I wear?" He asked, sweatdropping. It was not that cold outside, and the champ preferred to leave his jacket open, since that was how he wore his vest usually.

Hilary smiled. Whenever he lacked the vest -- it had fallen victim to little Daichi, who used it for a blanket a few nights ago and now smelled like jungle, she would pick out his clothes. Surprisingly enough, she always picked the tightest ones.

Coincidence?

She thought not. After all, she was a girl, she had needs too. Who didn't like to see a boy wearing a tight red shirt that made his pectoral and abdominal muscles scream 'I'm sexy, look at me!'

"Hil," he said gently, looking at her strangely before pulling the shirt over his head, "You're staring again."

She must not have heard him, since she kept on in her little daydream, making her eyes drift out of focus. He smiled lightly at her. She was awefully cute when that happened, even if it did annoy him just a bit. He reached out to grab her shoulders, feeling a droplet of water fall from the tip of a strand of his blunette hair and onto the bridge of her nose.

"Huh?" She looked into his eyes and saw the humor there. "Oh, sorry," she said and smiled shyly to prove it. The moment would easily pass, since both of them knew she was an attractive girl who could steal his attention easily if in the mood. He smirked and backed away, leaving a trace of a blush to remain on her high cheekbones.

Did she mention that she loved the smell of his cologne too?

xxxxxxxxxx

At Bakuten's local high school, it is a stated fact that all students are required to complete a certain amount of community service hours in order to obtain a doploma. Hilary and Tyson were easily finished with all their community service by spending time completing visits and tasks for the B.B.A., but it was also required that one activity per year be completed with the school.

Thus our heroes were standing before a place Daichi and Tyson had once deemed 'The Smelly Old Folk's Home.' Hilary tilted her head toward the blunette who had not left her side. Apparently, she was supposed to either save him from the teachers, or from whatever old 'foggie', another of Tyson's words for the residents of the nursing home, wished to beat him with their cane next.

She sighed. "Tyson, please leave the poor old man alone!"

"But Hiiiiiiiiiiiil!" He yelled, adding extra emphasis on the vowel, "He started it."

She whapped him upside the head with the packet of songs bestowed upon them when they arrived. "I'll finish it if you keep going," she growled threateningly.

Nearby, an old lady laughed as Tyson shrunk back, staying as far away from the old man(and Hilary's song packet) as possible. "You whip that boy, young lady," She cackled happily, "He'll make a fine husband someday!"

Both teens blushed. "Ma'am," Hilary said, a scarlet blush taking its place upon her cheeks for the upteenth time that night, "We're not..."

"Good to know," Tyson said, noting that the rest of the group had disappeared around the corner of the nearby hallway. He pushed her from behind, neglecting her yells. "We don't wanna get lost," He covered quickly, leading her toward the next room they would be caroling at. "Besides, it's good to know that someone thinks I'm not a lost cause with the ladies."

"Yeah, the only people who would think that are old and senile."

His pride was instantly hurt, and he sighed in defeat. "Way to make a guy feel good, Hil."

She gave him a bubbly smile and blended into the group of carolers from the school, responding, "Don't mention it!"

xxxxxxxxxx

Taking in a deep breath, the group of high school kids began their final song.

"_Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la!_"

The group of older people watched on, a sense of youth restored in their eyes, as signaled by the brightness they held when they watched the younger people. The group was rather entertaining and adorable to watch, and though they were nearly adults, this time of year gave each of them the ability to regain some of their childhood with the season.

Of course, as with all groups of children, there has to be a single misfit in the bunch who makes things go desperately wrong, even if all the old 'fogies,' as he calls them, are too deaf to tell the difference.

Tyson sang thusly:

"_Tis the season to be jolly, _blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah!"

"Ty-sonnn!" Hilary skillfully whapped him on the back of the head -- again -- for his behavior. The boy yelped and jumped up, before attempting to remove the packet of paper from the girl's hand. "Grow up!"

"Oh cool it, we're almost done!"

He received a deadly glare, ruby in color. "Tyson..." The light tapping of her foot made him realize that she was serious. He sweatdropped and began singing again, this time being serious to match her own expression. She too had found herself annoyed, since it was about the twenty-second time they had sang "Deck the Halls" tonight.

Finally, the group had finished their last selection, and both the old folks as well as the teenagers cheered. Now, they would be heading to their bus, going back to the school, and then ultimately, home.

On their way out the door of the nursing home, a young woman, Mika, ran up to Hilary, who easily became the leader of their group, with Tyson at her side. "Hilary-chan, Hilary-chan!" The girl yelled.

Hilary turned and looked at her curiously. "What is it, Mika-chan?"

She huffed for a moment, just a bit out of breath. "It's Ikono-sensei and Mikuratsu-sensei! They disappeared!"

Laughter came from their right. Tyson smirked. "Okay, everyone, go check the janitor's closet, and the nearest location of mistletoe."

Hilary snorted. "Or you could all just surround Ikono-sensei's car, because I saw her lead Mikuratsu-sensei toward it through the kitchen exit when we got cocoa about an hour ago." Giving Tyson her all-knowing smirk, she nodded to give him her approval of the action he was dying to take.

"Try not to act too surprised when you bust them. Anyone who has cameras, follow me." The devious champion quickly pulled out his digital camera. That bitchy teacher would learn her lesson, especially since she was about ten years older than that student teacher. He shivered with the thought of revenge. In this situation, it was okay, just not anywhere involving the B.B.A.

As he led the group of mobbing teenagers away, Hilary stood beside Mika, who had a rather large sweatdrop adorning her halo of long black hair. "Hil-chan?"

"Yeah, Mika?"

"When are you two gonna get together? I mean, seriously. He follows you around like a lost puppy."

Tyson flashed her a smile as he took the first picture of the unsuspecting couple. Hilary blushed at Mika's statement, but responded quietly. "We're just friends, Mika, honestly."

"Yeah, and the Kai Hiwatari Fan-Club is going to end sometime this century." Hilary shrugged and Mika continued. "Get real, girl! Snag him, 'cause he is one hottie, if I do say so myself."

Hilary growled and Mika jumped.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, girl, I'm not trying to get in on your man or anything, I swear. I'm more of a Max fan myself."

A smile returned to Hilary's face. "Good. Then we won't have any problems."

"Geez," Mika said, her previous sweatdrop replaced with an even bigger one, "And I thought I was male-challenged."

"What was that?!" Hilary's eyes burned red and Tyson immediately ran to her side, grabbing her wrists and holding her tightly, causing Mika to begin to laugh uncontrollably.

Tyson's voice rung cooly in her ears, calming her. "Chill, Hilary, chill. Let's go get on the bus before you kill somebody."

Hilary nodded and gave Mika a smile that seemed far too victorious. As Tyson led her away, Mika watched on, shaking her head. That girl was a piece of work. At least she had a prince charming, the black-haired teen reasoned as she followed them onto the bus that would take them home.

xxxxxxxxxx

**Please review!**

x3 Distant Storm


	5. Part Five: Santa's Lil Helpers

Disclamer: I don't own beyblade. Woot woot.

xxxxxxxxxxSanta's Lil' Helpersxxxxxxxxxx

Tyson looked at the little boy whose eyes followed him as he walked cooly into the room from the doorway. The child knew damn well that he was looking at the champion, and he also knew that this was probably the coolest thing he would ever experience. Perhaps, the younger of the two boys thought simply, it was a good thing to be sick. Nice people came to see you. Nice people you probably would never meet anywhere else.

"Hey, kiddo," The blunette said, taking a seat next to the boy in the white-washed room. He stood out easily, being a vibrant combination of bronze skin, blue hair, and navy and red clothing. The younger eagerly enjoyed the change.

The young boy smiled, his eyes round in awe at the teenaged boy who smiled at him. "Wow, thanks for comin' to see me, Tyson," he chirped, trying desperately not to sound too eager. He didn't want the champion to think of him as some crazy-obsessed fan. No, this child knew that champions did not like it.

"What's your name?" Tyson asked, brushing the former comment off as nothing. He liked visiting kids. After all, he was just about a big kid himself.

The boy blushed, how could he have possibly forgotten to introduce himself. "Quinn," the boy said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with the hand that was not attached to an IV drip. "Sorry."

The champ laughed. "Don't apologize, Quinn, I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached." He motioned to the doorway. "Hil here," The girl stepped into the doorway, clad in her BBA letterman's jacket, her arms crossed over her chest, "Is the one who keeps me all in check."

From the bed, the little boy smiled and giggled cutely. Hilary would have 'aww'ed at her if not for what he said next. "That's just like my Mom says! Behind every man is a woman! She told me that you two were 'sweet on each other,' whatever _that_ means."

Both of them immediately blushed, making the boy giggle even more. The poor child was so innocent and it did not help either of the two teenage celebrities that they were both beet red and completely in denial.

"It-it's not like that," Tyson said, shrugging it off with a goofy smile. "Hilary and I are just friends."

"Then why is Hilary standing behind you blushing and biting her lip?"

The champion went to turn around and Hilary slipped out of the room lightning fast. The only sound they could hear was the sigh of the teen as she relaxed, out of the spotlight for the moment.

Both boys looked at each other and giggled. "Girls are so wierd," Quinn whispered, afraid that the ever tempramental brunette was within hearing range outside his door.

"You don't have to tell me, kiddo."

xxxxxxxxxx

Tyson switched places with a nurse a good forty-five minutes later; Quinn was getting tired, and needed some medicine. Though it had been the seventh kid the duo had visited(outside of the massive group of children waiting in the main playroom), he felt reluctant to leave. They had spent a full day visiting children. The only strange thing about the experience was that he was not accustomed to the small ball of white fuzz that hung down on the side of his face. The santa hat bothered him ever so slightly.

When he looked up, Hilary was before him, leaning casually against the wall across from the doorway. "So?"

The champ looked up at her. "So... what?"

"How was it?"

"He's cute."

Hilary deadpanned. "He was the ninth one today."

"_Ninth_?!"

"Yes ,Tyson, _ninth._"

"But how? Only six kids asked us if we were... together." Once the world rolled off his tongue, he realized how easy it truly was. To be quite honest, it was not very difficult to say that they were together, since most of the time, this was true. Just... not in that way.

Ruby eyes blinked sarcastically. "Six children, two nurses, and one doctor."

"Really?" The champion rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "People really think that we are...?"

"Yeah," The girl retorted, almost breathlessly. This was a bit touchy of a subject.

Tyson grabbed her hand and pulled her along. "Well they'll learn to get used to it. We're just... us."

"Us?" She looked up at him, utterly confused. What did he mean by that? She knew they had a strange relationship, but really. She hoped he wasn't being cryptic as a means to embarass her later.

However, when she met his eyes, she felt the comfort and warmth that was Tyson's better side. The side she recieved when no one else was around. Did she mention that their fights were strictly limited when they were alone?

"Yeah," he reinforced, pulling her along, "Us."

xxxxxxxxxx

**Notes: ** So there you have it. Short and sweet, but I thought it would work out well if I ended it there. Stay tuned for next time... when... erm, well I should go find the sheet that tells me what happens next time. I won't let months pass though inbetween.

Thanks for reading!

Distant Storm


	6. Part Six: Hot Cocoa

Disclaimer: I don't own beyblade.

Notes: Sorry guys, it's been a while, hasn't it? I appreciate all the reviews I've recieved, and I'm going to try and finish this one up asap. It's kinda crazy writing lately, since I've been running everywhere between school, religion, and extracurriculars. Hopefully, I'll be able to write with the long Easter-Weekend coming up. 'Sides, now I get to bring you guys a little bit of Christmas all year long(God I hope it doesn't take me that long to finish this...)

xxxxxxxxxxHot Cocoaxxxxxxxxxx

Tyson padded silently into the kitchen, neglecting the lightswitch as he passed it. No one needed to know that he, the World Champion of beyblading numerous times over, was awake. If so, it would warrant for his team mates to pop their heads into the room or otherwise wander in groggily, and Tyson was not in the mood. Sighing, the champ used the white light of the winter night to view stove, and more importantly the water-filled kettle atop its burner.

As he lit the burner beneath the kettle, his cell phone lit up, insisting that he read his new text message before anything else, because it was more important. He ran a hand through his capless hair and flipped open the device.

"Hilary," he murmurred. The girl was obviously not at the dojo at the moment. Her text told him to respond as soon as possible, since she was out for a walk, and she needed someone to talk to. It was perfect, really, the champion thought with a smirk. Hilary would be up for cocoa too, especially after taking a "walk." This meant that she had probably circled most of Bakuten in her boredom. With it being Christmastime, there being no practice, and her family becoming less and less tolerable -- though he didn't understand why she could tolerate his insane relatives -- Hilary was more and more likely to appear at any given moment, with or without invitation.

She was always welcome, Tyson mused, so inviting herself, though she insisted it was almost always the case, was not so much an option.

Disturbing him from his rare thoughts, the inner shoji that linked the kitchen to the dojo and yard slid open silently, as if a ghost had done it. There stood Hilary, pink cheeks glowing from the pale light of the kitchen that she had just stepped into. Tyson smirked, and pulled out two cups.

"Cocoa?" he asked simply, receiving a nod in return. She set a bag on the counter, causing him to cock his head in confusion. "What's that?"

Hilary removed her scarf and hat and set them on the back of a stool surrounding the island bar in the center of the kitchen. "You can't hardly expect to have cocoa without marshmallows, can you?"

He laughed. "I forgot about marshmallows," He whispered sheepishly.

"You dolt."

"Hey! I don't have to make any cocoa for you!" His whisper became sharper, to which the two began to giggle slightly.

"Whatever." Glancing over at the kettle heating upon the stove, Hilary tapped a finger to her cheek. "Tys, you making your cocoa with water?"

"Isn't that the only way to make it?"

She shook her head. "Guys," she said hopelessly. "No, haven't you ever had cocoa with milk?"

He shrugged.

"Turn the kettle off," she instructed, and he obeyed, curiously. "Okay, go grab some milk from the fridge and bring it over here."

He did as asked, watching as Hilary helped herself to a saucepan and lid, filling it up about a third of the way with mild. "Now what?" 

"What do you think?" She asked him. "We have to wait for it to heat up."

"Okay!" The champion mock-saluted and immediately busted out the marshmallows. "So," he began, munching on the white sugary treats, "How'd you know?"

"Know what?"

"I'd be drining cocoa."

"I didn't." The blunette sweatdropped. Hilary continued. "What? If you didn't respond, I was going back to my house to have cocoa."

"Is that why you're in your pyjamas?"

A slightly pinker tinge took hold of the brunettes cheeks as she glanced down at her attire. she was wearing one of her favorite BBA pull-over hoodies -- one Tyson recognized from somewhere(she had probably lifted it from his closet and never bothered to return it) -- and a pair of white pyjama pants covered in Santa's head and little red and green 'Ho ho ho's.

"I guess so," the girl finally stammered, checking on the status of their heating milk. "I never really paid attention."

"Oh, so you didn't plan on coming here," he said slyly.

She shrugged. "I doubted you'd be up."

"It's not that late," the boy countered.

"Yeah, because three-thirty in the morning isn't late."

"Actually it's rather early," Tyson retorted. "We're up earlier than Kai for once!"

"Maybe for you it is," Hilary yawned for emphasis, "But I haven't slept yet."

"Seriously? Like not at all?" 

"Nope."

"Jeez, and you tell me I'm crazy. Insomniac."

Silence reigned over them for a little while. It was comfortable, because Hilary was perfectly okay with admitting her lack of sanity and slight case of insomnia, and Tyson was perfectly content with the fact that she had not pointed out that he was a worse mental case than she could probably ever be.

"Cocoa's done," she told him, a moment later, when she divided the milk evenly between the two cups, whose bottoms had been filled with packets of cocoa mix by the blunette champion watching on. He was surprised at how well she tipped the saucepan, for if he had been the one doing so, he would have had more milk on the counter and floor than in either of the cups put together.

"Thanks," the champ said, reaching over to the bag of marshmallows and dumping an oversided handful into the cup. He watched it become melted and frothy, and smirked as he manipulated the edge of it with his finger, careful not to burn himself from the cocoa underneath the melted marshmallows.

Hilary sat down across from the blunette, her mug of cocoa most likely acting as the push that would keep her awake until she had coffee with the rest of the guys. She hadn't really felt much like sleeping, since she hadn't really been doing much as of late besides tinkering around, baking pre-made cookies, and watching corny, overplayed Christmas films. "Hey, I almost forgot!"

Tyson looked on eagerly as she dug through the flimsy plastic bag she had brought with her. Inside were two candy canes, striped with a deep mocha, red, white, and green. "What kind are these?"

The girl said nothing. She unwrapped the first one, and set it inside his mug, watching his eyes widen in interest. "Take a sip," she beckoned, after swirling the candy treat through the mug a few times.

He did, his eyes lighting up in pure joy. "Dude! This is so good!"

"Shh," she reminded him, though her rebuke was undertoned with a light smile and a giggle. "It's my favorite. My Dad used to make it for me this way. It's a mint chocolate candy cane."

Tyson smiled at her. It was not every day that she mentioned the abyssmal father that had mysteriously vanished, much less to refer to him in a semi-decent way. Tyson, who knew most of his teammate's histories, figured that the similarities between his stoic captain and the brunette girl probably resulted in the reason why they got along fairly well. Of course, neither spoke of the other's past, much less their own when it came to the team. The champion figured he was just lucky in that way.

Of course, he couldn't let her think that he was thinking nicely about her either. Letting his more philosophical and deep thinking subside(and ignoring the pain it had caused him to think), the champion promptly bounced a mini-marshmallow off of the ruby-eyed girl's forehead and into her cup of hot cocoa.

"Oooh, Tyson," she seethed in that playful way of hers, "This is war!"

xxxxxxxxxx

Ending Notes: Hope you liked it. I did it all in one shot, too, since I have a snow day today. Hopefully, I'll be able to post another one soon. We're half-way done, and coming into the final stretch, which is the Christmas Gala, and finally, Christmas! It's going to get better, I promise. After all, they've just kinda been goofing around, having fun and causing trouble. I'm going to give them a little romance, I promise. And it will be(to the best of my abilities) in character.


	7. Part Seven: Ice Skating

Disclaimer: I don't own beyblade.

xxxxxxxxxxIce Skatingxxxxxxxxxx

"C'mon Hil, live a little!" Tyson pulled her along, tightly grasping her wrist as if she were to break out of his hold.

Hilary rolled her eyes. "Yeah, a little. We've got about what... four or five hours, if we're lucky, before Kai catches us. In case you've forgotten, this isn't just any practice we're blowing off here, Tyson. It's an '_extra-special_' practice. As in Kai's gonna kill us when we come back to your place and give him some lie about how we saved a kitten instead of going to practice."

"You never know, he might believe us." The champion smiled widely, in that childish way that Hilary hated to admit was rather charming. "'Sides, it's not like it's my fault that he _had_ to schedule his '_extra-special_' practice on the only of the week that we can go skating outside. He'll live."

"I know that, Tys, but it's not him I'm worried about. He'll be fine. Us, I'm not so sure."

Tyson stopped her from walking ahead, toward the man who sold tickets to get into the large skating rink. "Back to this again? Seriously Hil, don't you get an adrenaline rush from playing hookey? Defy authority Hil, I know you've got it in you."

"That would be a negative on the adrenaline rush."

"Aww, is liddle Hiwawy afwaid of big bad Kai?"

"Congratulations," The brunette retorted, "Your voice now officially matches your mentality."

"Way to be a wet blanket." He checked his cell phone for the time. "We're already about fifteen minutes late for practice. By the time we get back to my place, we'll be about an hour late. Pick your poision, Kai will be pissed either way."

Ruby eyes widened. She hadn't thought about that, much to her own surprise. If she was with Tyson, though, maybe the guys would just play it off as nothing. "Alright, alright. Let's go skating."

Tyson captured the girl in a tight hug. "I'm so proud of you!" Wiping away a fake tear, he continued. "My little Hilary's all grown up and playing hookey!"

Once he was finished mocking her first attempt at blowing off the stoic captain's orders, Hilary looked up at Tyson, who had been the gentleman and paid for their skating excursion. "Tyson, have you ever ice skated before?" She paused, and as he was about to answer, she held out a hand. "I mean, have you skated, on ice skates, on ice?"

The champion smirked. "I've waked across Lake Baikal. You know, really cold, igloo country? Yeah. This should be a breeze."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

xxxxxxxxxx

It took a few minutes for the teenage girl to get readjusted to ice skating. She hadn't been since last year. Once she became comfortable, she began to twirl around on the ice, laughing joyously as she flew gracefully past the champion who had brought her.

After watching Hilary in a bit of awe(who would have thought she could actually appear graceful?), Tyson decided it was time to join the girl. Putting one skate forward, the champ headed out on the ice.

"See, I told you it would be -- oof."

Hilary burst out into uncontrolled laughter at the scene before her. The blunette champion of all things beyblade was sprawled out in a faceplant at the edge of her skates. "So you walked across Lake Baikal, huh?"

"Shut it."

"Aww, poor world champion can't skate?"

Tyson rolled himself over onto his butt and looked down. "Great, now I'm all wet and snowy."

"You wanted to skate outside, remember? And you aren't gonna melt, so don't get your rip cord in a knot." Hilary began to skate around him in wide circles, stopping every so often to increase the amount of powder on the fallen blader.

Brushing off some of the powder, despite its futility, Tyson smirked. "You never know. I am pretty sweet."

"Not sweet enough."

"Man, you are such a downer." Tyson attempted to get to his feet, but immediately fell backwards onto his throbbing rear end. "Give a guy a hand?"

Hilary stopped laughing just enough to reach out, take his hand, and attempt to pull the champion up. However, it does not take too much energy to figure out Tyson's next move.

He pulled.

Hard.

Stopping mid laugh, the ruby-eyed team manager landed swiftly and ungracefully atop Tyson, causing him to let out a small 'oof' as the air left his chest cavity. Hilary looked up to realize that her head was on his chest. Sighing, and realizing that this was not really going to get them anywhere, she shimmied up on the tips of her ice skate's blades to better see his face.

When her head was directly over his, she smiled at him, the remains of her previous laughter still showing in a cheerful giggle. Her cheeks were just a tad pink, between the cold winter air and the warmth between their bodies. "Why hello, Tyson. Fancy meeting you here."

"Hey Hil, what's the occasion?"

"You tell me."

The champion looked up at her, her brunette tresses hanging just above the tip of his nose. "I think the sky fell, but I'm not positive." After a moment, he smiled at her again. "Care to get up?"

"Not really," she said, a devious smile adorning her features.

Tyson could play this game easily. "If you don't I'll have to tickle you, and we both know that you're powerless against tickling." His smile was wide and she knew he had a point. Honestly, she figured that they were being stared at and would prefer to be humiliated only slightly.

So, she did the only thing she could think of. "Okay, fine, have it your way." Shifting off of him, she lowered her nose to his, so that they touched. "But you'll have to catch me if you want your hat back."

Laughing the whole time, Hilary rushed to her feet, narrowly avoiding Tyson's hand which had gone straight for her ankle, and took off as fast as she could. She wasn't sure how well he was going to be able to catch her, but she figured the spark of anger at her stealing his beloved baseball hat would be enough to get him going.

Of course, as he wobbled to his feet, parents and their small children proceeded to make a few comments about the blunette.

"Hey, isn't that Tyson?" A small boy asked, holding his father's hand as he passed by the slowly moving champion.

"It isn't polite to stare," his father rebuked.

Tyson rubbed the back of his head. He had to learn how to ice skate, and he had to do it quick. He tested out one foot, and found that if he tried to glide like everyone else, he actually got somewhere. Putting one skate ahead at a time, he began to glide. Of course, his arms were practically out straight, attempting to restore some of the equilibrium he lacked when trying to balance on the two blades beneath him.

"Hilary, get back here!" The champion yelled, speeding up with each calculated glide. He could see the light pink scarf she wore around her neck and the matching powder pink hat atop her head -- with white puff-ball at the top, of course -- and began to weave between people as best he could.

Meanwhile, ahead of the champion by about a quarter of the rink's length skated hilary, who clutched the hat with both hands. "How about you come here," she called over her shoulder, giggling, only to turn her head straight ahead and proptly collide with the barricade on the side of the rink, in the corner.

Deep brown eyes widened and the champion skidded to a stop with much more skill than he had ever skated with in his life. "Hil?! Hilary?!" His eyes were smoldering with concern and fright for the teenaged girl before him.

Sprawled out on the ice was the brunette, thrown back by the force of her collision with the rink's confining perimeter. She didn't move.

Dropping to his knees -- and wincing from the collision of the cold, hard ice with his knee caps -- the champ reached out to the girl, brushing away the snowy brunette halo of hair that shielded her face from him. "Hil? C'mon, answer me."

In the back of his mind, Tyson registered that people were staring. However, the scene before him was the only thing that did indeed matter. He moved his hand from her face and wriggled his arms beneath her shoulders and knees, pulling her into his lap. Eyes flickering back and forth across her being, waiting, hoping for some indication that she was indeed alright and not suffering from internal bleeding in her skull.

The change in temperature from the ice to her friend's embrace caused ruby eyes to flicker open. A weak voice drifted the margin between them. "I guess you caught me, eh Tyson?"

His only option was to smile his widest smile, the one he saved exclusively for situations like these. "I guess so," he replied quietly, pulling her into a tighter embrace. "You okay?"

"I'll live."

"Even through Kai?"

She giggled softly. "Yeah. I figure you'll make a good enough human sacrifice to his almighty glacier-ness."

"Yeah, you're alright," he murmured, getting to his feet with only the slightest wobbling.

Skating slowly back toward the entrance through which they entered the rink, Hilary cautiously looked around. "Tyson?"

"Huh?"

"I thought you couldn't skate."

He glided on toward the exit without moving his feet. "I thought you could." He shrugged, feeling her grip -- her arms were around his neck -- tighten as he stepped up onto the padded ground of the lobby where people changed into and out of their skates. "Besides, you should know by now," He continued gently, setting her down on one of the benches before sitting down beside her and untying the laces to his skates.

She reached down, pressing her palm to her forehead to try and quell the splitting headache brought on by the collision. Tyson waved him off and proceeded to begin prying the laces apart. "Go on," she prodded. "What should I know by now?"

The blunette refused to listen, as per usual, and pushed himself off the bench and onto the floor, gripping her hands to stop her from her fight with the skate laces. "It's amazing what you can do when you think someone you care about could be hurt," he finished quietly. "It kinda makes you learn how to do things and fast."

Silence coveted them both, and without an argument, Tyson began to untie her laces the way he had done his own only moments before. When he finished, he gently pulled them off of her feet, watching how she wriggled her toes once they were free of the skate boot's hold. A laugh graced the boy's face.

Once they had gotten their street shoes back on, Tyson extended a hand to her. "You okay to walk?"

"I hit my head," She reinforced, although her pride did not restrict her actions. She took his hand and allowed him to pull her up. "I'm fine, my head'll stop hurting in a few anyway."

Nodding, the champion pulled her a bit closer to himself than usual, refusing to let their hands become unclasped. "We'll take it easy then."

She smiled and agreed, and halted when they reached the street corner, looking both ways before tilting her head toward him. "Hey Tys?"

"Huh?"

Her smile became brilliant as she leaned in toward his face to give him a kiss on the cheek.

He turned.

That was _not_ how Hilary Tachibana anticipated her very first kiss(on the lips!) to happen.

But, as they continued on, hand in hand, cheeks red and eyes diverted in denial of what had just happened, Hilary allowed a devious smile to blossom across her pink-tinted face.

She had never said that she didn't like it.

xxxxxxxxxx

Notes: Wow, that was not what I was expecting to come up with for this part of the fic, but, I do have to say that I did enjoy writing it. Please review!

Ohh, and next chapter, we shall find out just how Kai takes to our two lovebirds playing hookey!

Distant Storm


	8. Part Eight: Snowball Fight

Disclaimer: I do not own beyblade.

Notes: I never even thought of such a part for this fic up until about an hour ago. This one's not focused on the both of them doing something, instead, I decided to take a different approach. I think it'll work, although I suppose this part does carry over quite a bit from the last part. But that's okay. I'm liking where this is going.

xxxxxxxxxxSnowball Fightxxxxxxxxxx

Tyson slid open the inner shoji that led to the kitchen with as little noise as possible. He knew that it was not exactly _late_, but he did not want to deal with anyone until the morning when he was not thoroughly exhausted.

It was currently about ten-thirty, and the team usually was up until around midnight, save Kai, who's biological clock ticked to a different kind of time. Scanning the area, Tyson found it void of all signs of life. He decided the coast was clear and proceeded into the kitchen and then down the hallway, carefully peering into each door in the hallway. So far, no one.

The blunette made his way into his bedroom, flicking the lights on and off a few times to make sure that no one was around to play a prank on him. His team mates, especially Daichi, would hide out in his room because he had blown off practice. He checked out his closet and underneath the bed he used when his team mates were not staying over, decided that no one was in his room, and proceeded to a dresser in the corner, pulling out some pyjamas.

Both he and Hilary had finished ice skating around dinnertime, following a disastardly crash that Tyson was sure would have caused the average girl a concussion and a lot more whining than Hilary did. The brunette was a little dazed for a bit, but she took some tylonol and was back to normal within the hour. Of course...

Well there was that little issue on the street corner, but Tyson truly did not want to think about that. Not about how he hadn't pulled away, or how she hadn't either, or, how both of them had blushed so badly it would have put a tomato to shame and then _continued_ to hold hands and deny anything had ever happened, playing it off as nothing when they happened to go to dinner and get asked if they were a couple by the waitress.

No, he did not exactly want to dwell on that one.

After they had finished their dinner -- and she had refused to let him pay, they had returned to her house, since her mother would be out later than usual on business. Neither of them wanted to go back to the dojo at seven in the evening when there was enough time to have Kai work them into the ground. Kai could argue that he could work Tyson into the ground at any time, but Hilary was a girl, and Tyson figured that she shouldn't have to practice in the dead of night, especially since she nearly killed herself skating earlier in the day.

Hilary had decided, with Tyson's help, to watch a movie, something they did frequently, especially with all the holiday films on the air. It had not taken long for her to fall asleep, obviously worn out by the day's events. She had a nasty habit of falling asleep during movies, and it brought a smile to Tyson's face to think about the brunette's petite form curled up beside him on her couch with his arm around her.

Even with... certain unmentionable events, Tyson had to admit that it was a pretty good day. Hilary was not seriously injured, and was sleeping peacefully in her own bed instead of his hardwood floor. The champ distinctly remembered her not wanting to let go when he carried her to bed, and the knowing smile on her mother's face as she had to be practically woken up in order to let go of the champion and snuggle up with her blankets instead.

Her mother had been especially sly with the smiles, placing a hand on his shoulder after saying goodnight to Hilary and shutting the door. He removed his cap from his head and ran a shaky hand through his hair. Hilary's mom had probably thought that they had been -- gulp -- making out while she was gone.

They came close enough to that, thank you very much.

Tyson shook his head. He had to stop thinking about that. Hilary had _only_ meant to kiss his cheek. He had to stop thinking about potentially making out with her and how good that would taste.

"Ugh, stupid Hilary, get out of my head."

The sound of someone striding down the hallway toward his room made Tyson have to literally resist the urge to back away in fear and hide.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to show up." The smug look on his captain's face made Tyson wonder why the hell he didn't go for the hiding idea.

"Uhh... Hi, Kai. What's up?"

"Where have you been?!" The captain boomed.

Sighing, Tyson put his cap back on and set his pyjamas back on his bed. "Out."

"Really? Did it ever occur to you while you were _out _-- " Kai spat the word out as sarcastically as possible, "That we were training? Just because you're the world champion doesn't give you the right to do what you want."

The champion wasn't exactly sure what to say, so he said the only thing he could say. "I was with Hilary."

"Obviously, she wasn't here either." He smirked and looked beyond the blunette. "So where'd she hide?"

"She's at home, sleeping. She had a rough day."

Kai quirked an elegant eyebrow.

"Whoa, whoa. Don't look at me like that. She was the one who kissed me!"

Kai's elegant eyebrow got a matching quizzical glance.

"Uhh... that's not what I meant. I mean, we didn't... well, uhh..." Tyson scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm gonna shut up now," he feebly concluded.

"Outside."

"Wha?" Tyson knew it was coming, but seriously, he could train in the front quarters of the dojo. It was freezing outside.

"NOW."

As Tyson scurried out the door to the chilly backyard, he fleetingly remembered how timid Hilary had been to play hookey. Maybe she was just a tad more correct in being so than he had first thought.

xxxxxxxxxx

The blunette held both his elbows with the opposite hand and shivered. Kai had made him go outside in the middle of the night with no coat on. Honestly, the champ figured his lips were blue. Even Kai had his beloved scarf up over his mouth, since the wind was hitting him directly in the face.

"You call that an attack?! What the hell are you doing, Tyson?" Kai's tone, even carried against the wind, was angry enough to provoke Tyson to a response.

Scowling, he responded. "In case it's slipped your mind, it's like midnight and I'm in a freakin' t-shirt and I'm practically frozen to the freaking ground."

"Stop whining." A moment later, Kai looked toward the outer shoji that led to the veranda-style porch of the dojo. Ray popped his head out and held out a red coat, which Tyson eagerly scrambled off to put on. "There. Can we get back to the task at hand?"

Tyson nodded. "Yeah," he retorted, his competitive tone returning, to which Kai smirked and sent his beyblade back toward Tyson's.

Battling, the two teens continued for a good forty-five minute segment with no talking, but sheer concentration. While Kai was not always the best socially, he made up for it in the dish, and when the duo trained alone, Tyson actually enjoyed it. Of course, the bruises and achy muscles the following day sucked, but Kai and Tyson were so enthralled in their battle that it was more of a scrimage of the two champs than practice.

As their seemingly neverending battle began to lower from a high-point of tension, Kai regarded Tyson with cool eyes. "What happened with Hilary?"

Cracking his knuckles, Tyson was surprised that Kai had actually initiated a verbal communications between the two. While blading, they could use their respective blades or beasts to relate their messages. Especially so late at night when yelling as they did in the arena would attract more attention than their blades would.

He shrugged. "Long story."

"You're not getting out of this any time soon."

"Touché."

Kai crossed his arms, waiting for the blunette to tell all. "Hn."

The younger of the two removed his hat, ran a hand through his hair, and replaced the article upon his head. "We went ice skating earlier, that's why we weren't at practice." Noting Kai's stoic expression, save his eyes, which were focused on the blunette, he continued. "She stole my hat and I started chasing her. Then she wiped it because she was too busy checking to see where I was to notice that the rink ended and hit the glass."

A flicker of concern for the ruby-eyed girl flickered momentarily in Kai's amythyst eyes. He nodded, absorbing that which Tyson was saying.

"I freaked." 

"Hn."

"No," Tyson said, throwing the captain off guard. "I don't think I've ever felt as freaked as I did. I didn't even know how the freaking ice skate, and suddenly I was better than half the people in the rink. It was bad, Kai. I was practically shaking. Like I didn't know what the hell to do. If she hadn't woken up, I think I woulda lost it."

Kai nodded. "It's different," He mused aloud. "When Max or Ray..." The captain trailed off, feeling a fleeting sense of hatered toward Brooklyn, "Or... I get hurt, you react differently than if something happens to Hilary."

Tyson didn't deny it, he only looked for an answer. "Why?"

"I think you know." Kai shrugged, stretching one arm, then the other, while Dranzer pulsed as a heat source for the coat-lacking Russian. "Hell, everyone knows."

"Enlighten me."

"Continue with your story. Then analyze."

"Always the flipping strategist." Kai gave him a bemused smirk and waited for the champ to continue. "Let's see. I carried her outta there and then we left. And then..."

Tyson trailed off, and a faint blush coveted his already rosy cheeks. Kai smirked at this. "How'd you two end up kissing?" He didn't mind asking questions, as this was rather juicy information that nobody knew as of yet.

Paling, the blunette looked up at Kai, who waited patiently, willing him to take his time. "She wanted to thank me for saving her. It's not like she doesn't kiss my cheek at least once a week when I do something right for a change." 

Kai's expression changed to that of slight disappointment. A kiss on the cheek? Lame.

Meekly, Tyson's voice traveled between them. "But this was different." Kai's attention was literally yanked full-force to the other boy. "She went to kiss me on the cheek, and I turned my head."

The all-knowing smirk on the captain's face made Tyson blush harder. "What did she say about it?"

"She didn't. We just kinda acted like it didn't happen."

Kai nodded. "So she didn't mention anything about it being bad, or that she regretted it?"

"Nope."

"You didn't either?"

"Why would that matter?"

"If you're going to date her Tyson, it makes all the difference. Make a mistake up front, and you're screwed in the long run?"

"And you'd know?" The sly look upon Tyson's face was immediately upset by Kai.

"I've lived with Tala." Both smirked, though Kai held in his laugh. The elder champion looked away from Tyson, but in the direction in which Hilary lived. "What did you do after that? It doesn't take eight hours to go skating and walk to her house."

"We did dinner." Tyson felt his blush return. "Then we went to her house and watched a movie."

"Did you pay for dinner?"

"She insisted."

Kai shook his head. "_You_ start insisting. She's the girl. Either go Dutch or pay for it yourself."

"I spent ten thousand dollars on her freaking dress for the damned gala!"

"At least you're not hopeless." Taking a breath, he continued. "You _do_ intend to date her, right?"

"I don't know! I wasn't expecting to kiss her either!"

"Weren't expecting to kiss her or weren't expecting to like it?"

"BOTH!" Tyson burst out, nearly throwing himself backward into the snow. "I'm completely freaking lost here, Kai!"

Kai deadpanned. "That's obvious."

"I mean, how should I even think about dating her if I have no clue if she even likes me back?!"

"She's going to the gala with you, isn't she?"

"Yeah."

"And she didn't shun you because you two kissed, did she?"

"No."

"Then stop worrying so damn much about whether or not she likes you. I'm pretty sure everyone knows that you two are infatuated with each other."

"Infatu-whated?"

"Nevermind. If you go inside and tell your grandfather that you like Hilary, do you know what he'll say?"

"'Go for it, T-dawg?'"

"No. He'll say, 'It's about damn time.' Then he'll say what you said. The whole world is well aware that you and Hilary are more than friends, Tyson. How many people accuse you two of being a couple?"

"Everybody but you guys."

"We just do it behind your back," Kai assured. "Please tell me you didn't get her something stupid for Christmas, because if you did, I'm going to have to culture you in that respect as well."

"Is jewelry stupid?"

Kai's eyes widened. "You actually thought to buy her jewelry?"

"Yeah."

"From a jewler?"

"Like pink diamonds."

The slate-haired champ nodded. "Good choice."

"Wh-whoa. Was that a compliment?"

Kai smirked. "Don't get your hopes up." Their beyblades crashed and sparks flew. "Be yourself around her. If you act strange, she'll know something is up."

"Then how do I ask her out?"

"You're already going to the gala, and you guys do stuff all the time. Like blowing off my practices."

Tyson rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh.. uh, yeah. Sorry, Kai."

"Yeah, yeah." He waved it off as though it were nothing. "When you two actually _do_ start dating, don't do this all the time."

"Wow, you're actually gonna be cool about it?"

"Not really."

"That's promising."

"As are your beyblading skills."

"Thanks. You're helpful."

Kai smirked even more deviously, as though he had something on Tyson that the champ did not know about.

"Kai, you're kinda freaking me out with that smirk of yours. What's -- Hey!"

The snowball landed perfectly upon Tyson's left cheek, leaving a stinging cold sensation running down the champion's spine.

"That's not fair!"

"Hn."

"Oh, so you think you don't have to play by the rules?" Another snowball landed in the center of his forehead.

"I know I don't have to."

The sound of someone approaching the outdoors caught their attention."Hey, guys, what's going on out there?"

Ray.

Both bladers recalled their beyblades, exchanging glances. Both of them snuck behind a particularly large snowbank, hidded from view. 

"Guys?" The shoji was swung open, and the two champions glanced at each other again.

Then, with flawless precision, they let it rip.

The echoing 'oof' of the snowballs pelting Ray directly in the stomach resulted in the tiger's disappearance from the doorway, and the closing of the shoji.

"This means war," Kai breathed quietly. "C'mon."

"Who are you and where's Kai?" The amythyst-eyed boy cocked his head. "Seriously, dude, you're like... fun."

He shrugged. "Just don't screw up with Hilary. It's bad enough she comes to me when you hurt her feelings, but break her heart and I'll break your face."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"I figured you would." He blinked. "Come on. They're going to go out the front exit to surprise us."

"How'da figure that one?"

"Shut it."

The two snuck with expertise toward the front of the dojo, using the street light to see. As Kai said, the shoji slid open silently, and Ray, Max, and Daichi emerged, quietly moving down the steps as to keep themselves with the element of surprise, which they believed they held.

"Now?"

Tyson looked to Kai, to the quickly made arsenal of snowballs they had cooked up from behind their new snow drift.

_"Now."_

They began lobbing the spherical mounds of snow without stopping, and even Kai had to laugh as Daichi began yelling, "It's a trap, it's a trap! Escape, escape!"

Ducking behind the nearest snowbank, Max and Ray exchanged curious glances. "How come they're on the same team. There's something wierd going on here."

"Not too wierd," Ray said. "I only heard bits and pieces of what was going on out there, but I think Tyson and Kai were really having a heart-to-heart."

"And that's not wierd?" Daichi piped in, throwing a snowball without looking. "Seriously, Kai giving advice that doesn't have anything to do with beyblading? That's a new one to me."

"Not really," Max reinforced, whipping two snowballs, as two came back to match. "Kai's been meaning to talk to him about Hilary, I think."

Ray nodded. "Yeah." He looked back at the opposing snow bank. "But for now, let's worry about getting them without getting completely obliviated."

"Fat chance!" Kai called from across the way.

"That's what you say," Max and Ray called back.

Meanwhile, Kai began to crawl toward the back of the dojo. "Dude," Tyson whispered, lobbing a snowball. "Where you going?"

"Trust me," Kai called back, over his shoulder. "Just ensuring us the victory."

"I take it you've done this before?"

"Like I've said, I've lived with Tala."

"Gotcha."

Tyson watched him go. For a while, it seemed as though Max, Ray, and Daichi were winning, however, when the blunette saw Kai carefully maneauvering his way across the roof, he knew what the phoenix-wielder's plan was.

About fifteen feet below the roof's end was the snowbank behind which the three bladers hid. Kai met Tyson's eyes and nodded.

"Attack!" Tyson yelled, as a huge amount of snow plummeted on top of the three bladers, completely submurging them in its cold wetness.

Kai easily and gracefully jumped down into the snowbank that had hid his opponents, gathering a snowball in each hand as Tyson approached.

Three heads popped up out of the white mass. "Checkmate," Kai said, with an amused smirk. Both he and Tyson dropped their snowballs as their opponents raised their hands in defeat, and proceeded to high five each other.

Tyson pointed toward the dojo with a victorious look upon his face. "Inside, losers. Make us our victory cocoa!"

"Nice," was the only thing Kai said, with a curt nod to agree. The losers hung their heads and headed inside, thoroughly soaked.

"Dude, Kai, we are an awesome team!"

Kai gave him a smirk. "I'm still better than you are."

"Aww, c'mon, Kai. Can't we just cherish the moment?"

"I never said we couldn't, I just said that I'm better."

"You're still ruining the moment."

"Shut up and get on their asses about our victory cocoa. I want marshmallows."

xxxxxxxxxx

Notes: I really liked how that ended. I'm sure there's probably some really bad gramatical stuff in there, so if you find anything, feel free to point it out. I appreciate it, since I go back and fix it when I get the chance. 

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next chapter for Part One of the Christmas Gala.

Distant Storm


End file.
